Eyes
by CR5141
Summary: Sasuke came from a clan obsessed with eyes. They would change his destiny as he was irrevocably drawn into their depths. A tale told in snippets of nine.


_**Disclaimer:**__ Naruto does not belong to me. This story is merely internal musings stemming from an insane author who is obsessed with the idea of 'what if?_'

_**Eyes (1)**_

1. [Dead]

Uchiha Sasuke is 7 years old when his world comes apart at the seams. His older, prodigy of a brother has murdered the rest of the clan leaving him as the only survivor. How can he still be called a survivor, if he is very much dead? His heart died the moment his beloved aniki drove a sword through his father's head and slit the throats of the tiny Uchiha infants as they lay playing in the clan nursery, as did his innocence. An entire clan has been destroyed in one night and he is expected to carry on as if it didn't happen. How can he go on?

2. [Nightmare]

The doctors and the nurses at the hospital try to coax him into speaking, communicating, living, but he doesn't want to because they don't understand that he doesn't want to live because he's in a living nightmare of his own design. Day after day, he is haunted by what his brother has done and what he, himself had failed to do. He was weak. He couldn't protect his family when they needed him the most. He was a failure. When the doctors tell him to live for _them_, he almost wishes that he had the willpower to spit in their faces.

3. [Moving on]

Days pass, then months, but it doesn't ever get better. Everything has changed. Sasuke isn't allowed to move back to the Uchiha Compound. The Council, with the backing of the Hokage, rules that to place a boy in such an environment would be cruel. Pfffttt…What do they know? They haven't suffered like he has. Luckily, he isn't assigned a guardian, but that is probably only because the Council couldn't agree on an appropriate choice. After all, who wouldn't want the chance to influence the Last Uchiha? Instead, he gets a cushy apartment in one of the safest districts of Konohagakure. The world has moved on, but he doe not.

4. [Chaos]

Sasuke doesn't know how to take care of himself. After all, he had always had his okaa-san to take care of everything ranging from food to providing comfort. So, he doesn't know how to prepare food or clean his clothes or do his bills. Those were adult things that adults knew how to do. Not six year olds who can barely reach the sink. Somehow, Sasuke learns how to balance his budget and prepare simple foods because it would be a grave disrespect to his family if he were to die a shameful death due to starvation, especially when he is provided a generous stipend from the Orphans Fund.

5. [Dreams]

Sasuke doesn't like to go to sleep at night because every time he closes his eyes, he remembers. So, sometimes he stays up all night reading through his clan's scrolls and other times he finds himself practicing at the training grounds. He trains because he doesn't have anything else to do and he will never have anything else to do. He is a survivor and the only way he can keep surviving is if he loses his weaknesses and gets stronger, much stronger. So he trains and trains his mind and body because by the time he is ready to close his eyes, he is so exhausted that he falls into a dreamless sleep.

6. [Silent]

He isn't a very talkative boy. He wasn't a boy of many words before, and after his words become even scarcer. Most of the time, he answers in nonverbal shakes of the head or nonsensical sounds like, "Hn…" He doesn't understand why it matters that he doesn't speak often. But the Council, bastards that they are, forces him to see a psychologist, whose sessions consist of blanking staring and noncommittal noises from Sasuke. It doesn't help that people treat him differently after the massacre. They fall silent and give him nods of deference and respect. Sasuke's world becomes one of silence and he hates it.

7. [Academy]

Sasuke is given time to recover from his ordeal, so he is excused from the Academy. Eventually, the Council deems him recovered enough to attend and he is "allowed" back. Sasuke isn't exactly given a choice to attend because the weight of expectation from the Council, from the Village, from everyone, even himself forces him to accept. After all, there is no way that Uchiha Sasuke, the Last Uchiha, wouldn't want to become a shinobi and follow the proud tradition of his ancestors, right? When he enters the classroom, it is silent. Nobody seems to be breathing. They all stare at him likes he's a lab rat. He doesn't like it, but there is nothing he can do about it.

8. [Police]

The Uchihas had once been the proud keepers of peace and justice in Konohagakure. They had been the backbones of the Military Police Force. Since, they were no more, it was decided by the Council that ANBU would have to pick up the slack. ANBU, overworked and still from dealing with a heavy loss in numbers in the Kyuubi attack as well as high death rate, could barely keep up. So lawlessness started to erupt in the less patrolled districts. The rich districts were heavily patrolled, so no one bothered to complain and if they did, no one bothered to respond because they couldn't be bothered to care about the poor and less fortunate.

9. [Eyes]

Sasuke is walking past the park one day, when he sees something that changes his black and white world. He is caught by the sight of eyes. Eyes like the sky and ocean. Eyes that can move mountains or change the flow of time. He is startled when he bumps into someone walking in front of him. He mutters an apology and goes off in the direction of the eyes that have stunned him. He looks left and right, up and down, everywhere until it becomes dark and he can't see his fingers in front of him. He doesn't know how his life will turn out, but one thing is certain. He wants to see those eyes again before he dies.


End file.
